A fly fisherman must be equipped with a fishing rod, a fly line, a device such as a reel to hold the fly line, a leader, and lures. A leader is a relatively short, fine, tapered segment of monofilament line whose butt end is fastened to the end of the fly line. Lures, such as flies, are tied to the fine end of the leader.
Because the nail knot is difficult to tie, some manufacturers fabricate their fly lines with a loop on the end. This provides fishermen more latitude in choosing a knot for attaching leader to the fly line. For example, the common clinch knot, which is easy to tie, works well with a loop. However, a loop on the end of the fly line coupled with any knot is too bulky for many fishermen. For this reason many fishermen cut the loop off so they can use a nail knot to attach leader to their line.
The nail knot is trim and strong, appearing as small coils of leader tightly wrapped around the fly line. The tag ends of the fly line and the leader poke out of opposites sides of the leader coils and lay parallel to the fly line. They are clipped short so not to be obtrusive.
Nail Knot tying devices are presently for sale in the marketplace. They all have shortcomings. For example, a shortcoming of some devices, such as the "Fisherman's Needle 'N Tube", is that there is no mechanical means for holding the fly line and the leader together and parallel to each other while the coils are being wrapped around them. Hence, the leader, fly line, and tool must be simultaneously held in position with the fingers of one hand while the other hand wraps the coils. Another shortcoming exists with devices, such as the "Cinch Tie", wherewith the coils formed in the initial stages of the tying process are so much larger in diameter than the fly line, that it is difficult to keep them aligned after they are slid off the tool to be tightened around the fly line. Yet another shortcoming exists with tiers, such as the Fisherman's Needle `N Tube` or the "3-N-1 Nail Knot Tool", which consist of two parts not physically connected. Hence, the parts become separated. Still another shortcoming exists with tiers, such as the "Cinch Tie", which are elaborate and costly to manufacture, thus necessitating a high price to the fisherman. And, finally, another shortcoming of some nail knot tying devices, such as the "3-IN-1 Nail Knot Tool", is that they tie only nail knots, or the equivalent. Thus, fishermen must employ their valuable vest space to carry a device that is devoted to only one knot.
It would be desirable to provide a knot-tying device which is easier to use and not prone to the difficulties described above.